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Annotated Reference Guide to Collectible Books

Potter, Beatrix

Quintessentially English, the immediately recognizable work of Beatrix Potter has delighted children for more than a century. Her own childhood was spent reading Grimms’ Fairy Tales, Br’er Rabbit and Aesop’s fables, influences that are very clear in her work. Her stories all revolve around animals, with human characteristics, involved in situations that are true to life and occasionally cruel.

Inspired by her own love of nature and her rural surroundings, Potter’s books started life as letters sent to her friends and family. In publishing her tales, none of her fondness for the animals and countryside is lost; nor is the personal warmth she put into each story. It is almost as if she is reading the stories to you herself and you are the first person to hear them.

Potter’s distinctive illustrations which punctuate each story are as famous as the books themselves; JemimaPuddleduck’s bonnet and shawl, Peter Rabbit in his blue jacket and Jeremy Fisher punting along the pond on his lily-pad boat. In combining these memorable illustrations with a writing style that was clear and uncluttered, Potter allowed her young readers to simply enjoy the story.

Unlike many children’s authors of the last century, Potter’s appeal has remained strong and at auction her first editions invariably prove popular. Published by Warne and Co., her earliest stores fetch up to $1,500; although some titles such as, The Tailor of Gloucester, have reached $4,000 in the past.

A brand new and unseen Potter tale, Kitty in Boots, will soon be published. The release of this work will no doubt reawaken interest in her work, bringing back fans who are reminded of the simple charm of the original books.

POTTER,BEATRIX. TALE OF PETER RABBIT. (1902).white dot in the o's on the cover, leaf patterned endpapers, the word wept on p. 51 and all other points of first printing per Quinby 2; The text and illustrations were engraved and printed by Edmund Evans and first edition contains four color plates that do not appear after the fourth impression.